Tramlines once again turned Hillsborough Park into Sheffield’s summer heartbeat, celebrating its 17th year and marking one of the biggest events in the city’s calendar.
The festival settled in with its familiar mix of indie favourites, local heroes, a demonstration of Sheffield’s musical heritage and an atmosphere that is unbeatable.
Friday you could feel the excitement in the air as Hillsborough Park opened their gates to tens of thousands of festival goers. Many punters got down early to catch rising indie stars The Clause on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage apologizing for getting the crowd out of bed, but were in high spirits themselves playing a set of guitar heavy anthems.
Another standout indie band on the main stage were The Vaccines, with a set of fan favourites only making the atmosphere even more intense. Tramlines is a place for emerging talent and they had their finger on the pulse bringing out Radio Free Alice, a set of sharp guitars and Alt Indie bliss. Down at T’Other Stage, the standout act was by far Keo who have received so much recognition over the past two years with their alt grungy sound. Friday headliner was renowned DJ Fatboy Slim, who delivered big beats and hypnotising visuals.
On Saturday, Sheffield comedy folk band Everly Pregnant Brothers gave a real steel city welcome to the main stage with their set of parody anthems. A standout band on this day had to be Blossoms set, they have grown so much over the past decade and have built a massive following, which was demonstrated by how rammed the crowd was. At one point frontman Tom teased the crowd, evoking cheers before the band launched into ‘Your Girlfriend’.
Up at The Leadmill stage, up and coming alt indie band Girl in the Year Above packed out their tent with their dreamy, atmospheric songs. Garage gritty rockers Creeping Jean took T’Other Stage by storm with their energetic fuzzy riff.
Saturday’s headliner was Courteeners, there was a lot of excitement in the crowd and I think Courteeners generally shine at an outdoor festival, its their home from home and they delivered as best they could, but left festival goers feeling a little flat with a lot of fan favourite songs missing such as ‘Acrylic’.
Sunday for me was the day that truly smashed it out of the park. Bringing in the afternoon were the Sheffield legends Reverend and The Makers, frontman Jon’s infectious high energy had the crowd bouncing along to every single indie-electric song in the set and it was so clear to see why they’re a Sheffield treasure.
Rising indie stars The Lilacs delivered an electric set and watching them play on The Leadmill stage really encapsulated what tramlines is about: showcasing emerging talent and highlighting Northern stars.
At the main stage Wet Leg took no prisoners with their set, launching straight into ‘catch these fist’. They had the crowd singing along to fan favourites like ‘Wet Dream’ and the world-wide viral favourite ‘mangetout’.
Our final headliner of Tramlines 2026 was arguably one of the best bands in the entire world, Wolf Alice. Their set was incredible from start to finish with Ellie Rowsell on top form, launching herself into the crowd and into her vocals. We even enjoyed a surprise cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nivarna. The band didn’t just offer heavy rock sounds, but a very sweet moment inviting two girls with matching tops on for ‘Just Two Girls’.
Across the weekend staff were extremely helpful, the set times seemed throughout with minimal crashes and easier to move from stage to stage than previous years. Tramlines is one of those festivals that always delivers and this year, they exceeded themselves with 2026 being one of the strongest in recent memory with the perfect combination of an unforgettable line up and cracking crowd spirit.
Photo Credit: Matt Higgs
